nikon d80 vs d90 vs canon t1i

I'm a student at academy of art, and am considering an SLR for portfolio development [imaging & new media], and use for photoshoots for a magazine I have. I've been checking out the nikon d80 and more recently the canon eos rebel t1i, which has been compared to the d90 because both the t1i and d90 have HD video capabilities [which is cool but not neccessary... but then again what really is?]. THEN there was talk about how the d80 was now obsolete because the d90 is out. I just want to know if the d80 has any major flaws. I'm considering buying one on craigslist for 590 [body+50mm f1.8 lens+batteries+8-16gb memory+manuals/cds, etc.] Can anyone give me any information/opinions on this subject?

Also, if anyone knows how good the Nikon 50mm f1.8 lens is for close-up/close focus shots, or can explain what f1.8 even means, that would be helpful. Thanks!

The D80 is a solid camera but it doesn't handle the low light situation (basically, when ever you're indoor at night) as well as the D90. For $590 though, the D80 is a good bargain. You would have to paid at least $1000 for that package for the D90. Save some money to buy nice lenses, maybe a flash and then upgrade later on when they come out with something to replace the D90 with, then you can get the D90 for cheap or make an even bigger jump to the D90 replacement model. The lenses and the flashes won't change much until then.

What he meant was that there will be more noise at high ISO (anything 800 and above really) while the D90 produces great results at 1600 and even 3200 ISO.

Click to expand...

1) sweet

2) if i was to use a lower iso, a night shot could potentially look way less noisy with the d80 than this: Flickr Photo Download: ala moana park [i took this with a nikon coolpix with iso levels on auto]?